Tithe

a tenth of the produce of the earth consecrated and set apart for special purposes. The dedication of a tenth to God was recognized as a duty before the time of Moses. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek ( Genesis 14:20 ; Hebrews 7:6 ); and Jacob vowed unto the Lord and said, "Of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee."

The first Mosaic law on this subject is recorded in Leviticus 27:30-32 . Subsequent legislation regulated the destination of the tithes ( Numbers 18:21-24 Numbers 18:26-28 ; Deuteronomy 12:5 Deuteronomy 12:6 Deuteronomy 12:11 Deuteronomy 12:17 ; Deuteronomy 14:22 Deuteronomy 14:23 ). The paying of the tithes was an important part of the Jewish religious worship. In the days of Hezekiah one of the first results of the reformation of religion was the eagerness with which the people brought in their tithes ( 2 Chronicles 31:5 2 Chronicles 31:6 ). The neglect of this duty was sternly rebuked by the prophets ( Amos 4:4 ; Malachi 3:8-10 ). It cannot be affirmed that the Old Testament law of tithes is binding on the Christian Church, nevertheless the principle of this law remains, and is incorporated in the gospel ( 1 Corinthians 9:13 1 Corinthians 9:14 ); and if, as is the case, the motive that ought to prompt to liberality in the cause of religion and of the service of God be greater now than in Old Testament times, then Christians outght to go beyond the ancient Hebrew in consecrating both themselves and their substance to God.

Every Jew was required by the Levitical law to pay three tithes of his property (1) one tithe for the Levites; (2) one for the use of the temple and the great feasts; and (3) one for the poor of the land.

The tenth part; 1/10.

And all the TITHE of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD'S: it is holy unto the LORD. ( Leviticus 27:30 )

the proportion of property devoted to religious uses from very early times. Instances of the use of tithes are found prior to the appointment of the Levitical tithes under the law. In biblical history the two prominent instances are--

1. Abram presenting the tenth of all his property, or rather of the spoils of his victory, to Melchizedek. ( Genesis 14:20 ; Hebrews 7:2 Hebrews 7:6 )
2. Jacob, after his vision at Luz, devoting a tenth of all his property to God in case he should return home in safety ( Genesis 28:22 ) The first enactment of the law in respect of tithe is the declaration that the tenth of all produce, as well as of flocks and cattle belongs to Jehovah and must be offered to him that the tithe was to be paid in kind, or, if redeemed, with an addition of one fifth to its value. ( Leviticus 27:30-33 ) This tenth is ordered to be assigned to the Levites as the reward of their service, and it is ordered further that they are themselves to dedicate to the Lord a tenth of these receipts, which is to be devoted to the maintenance of the high priest. ( Numbers 18:21-28 ) This legislation is modified or extended in the book of Deuteronomy, i.e. from thirty-eight to forty years later. Commands are given to the people--
3. To bring their tithes, together with their votive and other offerings and first-fruits, to the chosen centre of worship, the metropolis, there to be eaten in festive celebration in company with their children their servants and the Levites. ( 12:5-18 )
4. All the produce of the soil was to be tithed every and these tithes with the firstlings of the flock and herd, were to be eaten in the metropolis.
5. But in case of distance, permission is given to convert the produce into money, which is to be taken to the appointed place, and there laid out in the purchase of food for a festal celebration, in which the Levite is, by special command, to be included. ( 14:22-27 )
6. Then follows the direction that at the end of three years all the tithe of that year is to be gathered and laid up "within the gates" and that a festival is to be held of which the stranger, the fatherless and the widow together with the Levite, are to partake. Ibid. ( deuteronomy 5:28 deuteronomy 5:29 )
7. Lastly it is ordered that after taking the tithe in each third year, "which is the year of tithing," an exculpatory declaration is to be made by every Israelite that he has done his best to fulfill the divine command, ( 26:12-14 ) From all this we gather-- (1) That one tenth of the whole produce of the soil was to be assigned for the maintenance of the Levites. (2) That out of this the Levites were to dedicate a tenth to God for the use of the high priest. (3) That a tithe, in all probability a second tithe, was to be applied to festival purposes. (4) That in every third year, either this festival tithe or a third tenth was to be eaten in company with the poor and the Levites. (These tithes in early times took the place of our modern taxes, us well as of gifts for the support of religious institutions. --ED.)

TITHE

tith (ma`aser; dekate):

The custom of giving a 10th part of the products of the land and of the spoils of war to priests and kings (1 Macc 10:31; 11:35; 1 Samuel 8:15,17) was a very ancient one among most nations. That the Jews had this custom long before the institution of the Mosaic Law is shown by Genesis 14:17-20 (compare Hebrews 7:4) and Genesis 28:22. Many critics hold that these two passages are late and only reflect the later practice of the nation; but the payment of tithes is so ancient and deeply rooted in the history of the human race that it seems much simpler and more natural to believe that among the Jews the practice was in existence long before the time of Moses.

In the Pentateuch we find legislation as to tithes in three places.

(1) According to Leviticus 27:30-33, a tithe had to be given of the seed of the land, i.e. of the crops, of the fruit of the tree, e.g. oil and wine, and of the herd or the flock (compare Deuteronomy 14:22,23; 2 Chronicles 31:5,6). As the herds and flocks passed out to pasture they were counted (compare Jeremiah 33:13; Ezekiel 20:37), and every 10th animal that came out was reckoned holy to the Lord. The owner was not allowed to search among them to find whether they were bad or good, nor could he change any of them; if he did, both the one chosen and the one for which it was changed were holy. Tithes of the herds and flocks could not be redeemed for money, but tithes of the seed of the land and of fruit could be, but a 5th part of the value of the tithe had to be added.

(2) In Numbers 18:21-32 it is laid down that the tithe must be paid to the Levites. (It should be noted that according to Hebrews 7:5, `they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood .... take tithes of the people.' Westcott's explanation is that the priests, who received from the Levites a tithe of the tithe, thus symbolically received the whole tithe. In the time of the second temple the priests did actually receive the tithes. In the Talmud (Yebhamoth 86a et passim) it is said that this alteration from the Mosaic Law was caused by the sin of the Levites, who were not eager to return to Jerusalem, but had to be persuaded to do so by Ezra (Ezra 8:15).) The Levites were to receive the tithes offered by Israel to Yahweh, because they had no other inheritance, and in return for their service of the tabernacle (Numbers 18:21,24). The tithe was to consist of corn of the threshing-floor and the fullness of the wine press (Numbers 18:27), which coincides with seed of the land and fruit of the trees in Leviticus 27. The Levites, who stood in the same relation to the priests as the people did to themselves, were to offer from this their inheritance a heave offering, a tithe of a tithe, to the priests (compare Nehemiah 10:39), and for this tithey were to choose of the best part of what they received.

(3) In Deuteronomy 12:5,6,11,18 (compare Amos 4:4) it is said that the tithe is to be brought "unto the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there," i.e. to Jerusalem; and in Deuteronomy 12:7,12,18, that the tithe should be used there as a sacred meal by the offerer and his household, including the Levite within his gates. Nothing is said here about tithing cattle, only grain, wine and oil being mentioned (compare Nehemiah 10:36-38; 13:5,12). In Deuteronomy 14:22-29 it is laid down that if the way was too long to carry the tithe to Jerusalem it could be exchanged for money, and the money taken there instead, where it was to be spent in anything the owner chose; and whatever was bought was to be eaten by him and his household and the Levites at Jerusalem. In the third year the tithe was to be reserved and eaten at home by the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. In Deuteronomy 26:12-15 it is laid down that in the 3rd year, after this feast had been given, the landowner should go up himself before the Lord his God, i.e. to Jerusalem, and ask God's blessing on his deed. (According to the Mishna, CoTah 9 10; Ma`aser Sheni 5 65, the high priest Johanan abolished this custom.) In this passage this 3rd year is called "the year of tithing."

There is thus an obvious apparent discrepancy between the legislation in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. It is harmonized in Jewish tradition, not only theoretically but in practice, by considering the tithes as three different tithes, which are named the First Tithe, the Second Tithe, and the Poor Tithe, which is called also the Third Tithe (Pe'ah, Ma`aseroth, Ma`ser Sheni, Dema'i, Ro'sh ha-shanah; compare Tobit 1:7,8; Ant, IV, iv, 3; viii, 8; viii, 22). According to this explanation, after the tithe (the First Tithe) was given to the Levites (of which they had to give the tithe to the priests), a Second Tithe of the remaining nine-tenths had to be set apart and consumed in Jerusalem. Those who lived far from Jerusalem could change this Second Tithe into money with the addition of a 5th part of its value. Only food, drink or ointment could be bought for the money (Ma`aser Sheni 2 1; compare Deuteronomy 14:26). The tithe of cattle belonged to the Second Tithe, and was to be used for the feast in Jerusalem (Zebhachim 5 8). In the 3rd year the Second Tithe was to be given entirely to the Levites and the poor. But according to Josephus (Ant., IV, viii, 22) the "Poor Tithe" was actually a third one. The priests and the Levites, if landowners, were also obliged to give the Poor Tithe (Pe'ah 1 6).

The explanation given by many critics, that the discrepancy between Deuteronomy and Leviticus is due to the fact that these are different layers of legislation, and that the Levitical tithe is a post-exilian creation of the Priestly Code, is not wholly satisfactory, for the following reasons:

(1) The allusion in Deuteronomy 18:1,2 seems to refer to the Levitical tithe.

(2) There is no relation between the law of Numbers 18 and post-exilian conditions, when the priests were numerous and the Levites a handful.

(3) A community so poor and disaffected as that of Ezra's time would have refused to submit to a new and oppressive tithe burden.

(4) The division into priests and Levites cannot have been of the recent origin that is alleged.

See LEVITES.

W. R. Smith and others suggest that the tithe is simply a later form of the first-fruits, but this is difficult to accept, since the first-fruits were given to the priest, while the tithes were not. The whole subject is involved in considerable obscurity, which with our present information cannot easily be cleared away.

The Talmudic law of tithing extends the Mosaic Law, with most burdensome minuteness, even to the smallest products of the soil. Of these, according to some, not only the seeds, but, in certain cases, even the leaves and stalks had to be tithed (Ma`aseroth 4 5), "mint, anise, and cummin" (Dema'i 11 1; compare Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42). The general principle was that "everything that is eaten, that is watched over, and that grows out of the earth" must be tithed (Ma`aseroth 1 1).

Considering the many taxes, religious and secular, that the Jews had to pay, especially in post-exilian times, we cannot but admire the liberality and resourcefulness of the Jewish people. Only in the years just after the return from exile do we hear that the taxes were only partially paid (Nehemiah 13:10; compare Mal 1:7; and for pre-exilian times compare 2Ch 31:4). In later times such cases seldom occur (Sotah 48a), which is the more surprising since the priests, who benefited so much by these laws of the scribes, were the adversaries of the latter.

Paul Levertoff